Ex Librus: Random

Recovery Program

Random walked through the employee entrance of the secure Federal building registering as a random employee whose identity she had hijacked. Security was slack at the employee entrance. She bypassed the metal detectors and x-ray machines at the front entrance. Once inside, she took the stairs down to the basement. The door at the bottom of the stairs gave her a clear view of the hallway and server room. Locating a clear space between the racks, she slipped inside. First, she erased the record of her entry into the building. There were no cameras inside the server room, but there had been at the employee entrance. She wiped her image from all recordings. As far as Security was concerned the person whose Identity Card she had cloned was still at lunch.

Random had come for a specific packet of data. But first, she needed to find it. She mapped out the room and traced various internal and external system requests. Once she had a general idea of where to find it, she went to the physical file location. She was concerned about imaging the data. It was hard to do when the disks were in motion. Fortunately, the company had changed from traditional SATA drives to cutting-edge solid-state drives. Just as Random extracted the last bit of data, she sensed an involuntary slip.

The server room was momentarily in a hayfield on a farm before fading from view. A dirt road led downhill to several barns and a farmhouse. She knew that she was somewhere on Earth still. She pinged the Global Positioning Satellites, but there was no response. Without the GPS, she would have to go old school. Determining the exact position and time required darkness. The abandoned farm would still provide shelter until she could figure out where she was. She wandered upstairs in the old farmhouse and removed an old dust-covered quilt from one of the beds. She placed it on the floor in sunlight and laid down on it for a recharge.

A chill in the air woke Random from her dreamless sleep. She walked back to the top of the hill and slowly scanned the night sky. Her internal compass allowed her to find magnetic north. It was autumn in the northern hemisphere. She was somewhere in the northeastern United States. She made a second attempt at pinging a global positioning satellite. Again, there was no response. Before she could complete her calculations, she slipped again.

Librus had sensed that Random was overdue and had recalled her. She transferred the data packet to Librus. Bots would analyze it, find the relevant code, and modify it. Random would wait until it was time to replace the original data. It would likely be several minutes before the information was ready for injection. Random reported the glitch that sent her into her organic past. By the time she completed her own diagnostic, it was time to slip back into the server room.

It was easier to enter the server room a second time because Random didn’t need to go through security to enter the building. She slipped directly into the room at the exact set of blades that stored the data packet. The overwrite took just under two minutes. She slipped out seconds before a technician would have discovered her.

Random waited while Librus computed her next objective. Waiting was never good for her. It gave her time to think, to question her work, to form her own opinions. Random didn’t like to have opinions as they often led to emotional responses to her assignments. Librus had made her wait around a lot more lately. It also had let her hold on to more of the data that she had collected – bits and pieces that fit together like a puzzle.

Random played with the data, noticing that there were still a few missing pieces to the puzzle. She had no idea where to go for the next piece. It was up to Librus to decide. Librus had laid out the mission details. The slip was a dangerous one and the timing was critical. She downloaded every bit of data from Librus’s resources about the objective. She practiced the mission in her head repeatedly until the steps to carry it out were pure impulses. And then she slipped into the facility minutes before enemy fire would destroy every bit of information in the base computer.

Random didn’t have much time. The base was under attack and the crew had shut down everything. A single male had remained on station as the enemy vessel advanced. He would have a device in his possession that contained the information Librus had sent her to retrieve. Rather than waste time wrestling for possession of the device, Random leapt at her quarry, grabbed hold of the man, and slipped back to Librus with the laptop and its owner.

Random was only supposed to bring the laptop data. Her instincts told her to grab both. The enemy had destroyed the base seconds after she had slipped out. She dragged the laptop owner with her as she moved about Librus. At first, he followed her in stunned silence as she took his laptop and transferred all the data. Librus analyzed the contents of the laptop and ran a search on the male human. According to records, Mason Dixon died when the base exploded. He stayed close to her on his own volition, watching her every move.

Random tried to fit the new bits of data into the puzzle, but was having trouble making sense of it. Something had changed since she came back to Librus with this being. She just was having trouble seeing what was different. Librus knew, but wasn’t sharing that information with her. Librus hadn’t given Random a puzzle to solve. It had given her puzzle pieces to fit together. She was searching for more than just the answer. She was searching for the question. She looked at the male human and smiled. He held out his right hand and introduced himself. “My name is Mason.”

Random held out her left hand in response. “Random.”

“Random?” Mason clasped and shook her hand. “Did your parents not like you?

“I don’t understand the question.”

Mason furrowed his brow. “Okay. Let me know when I ask one that you do understand. Where are we? How did we get here? And can I go back where we came from?”

Random answered in her usual succinct way. “Librus. Time slip. If you want to die.”

“I think I’ll pass on the dying.” He leaned against a console. “What are you working on? Maybe I can help.”

“It’s a puzzle. I have most of the pieces. I do not require your assistance.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Because there wasn’t enough time to leave you behind.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I needed the data in your possession. There was not enough time to take it from you and leave you behind. It was just easier to take you.”

“But can’t you manipulate time?”

“No. I can slip from one point in time to another, but I can’t affect the flow. And the less information that I have going in, the harder it is to pick a slip point.”

“You were cutting it close.”

“No, you were cutting it close. If I hadn’t slipped you out, you and your data would be lost forever.”

“You could still send me back.”

“No, I can’t. According to Librus, you were an anomaly. You died in the blast.”

Mason sat down on the floor. “So, either way I’m dead in the past.”

“Presumably.”

“So, where do we go next?”

“We? We don’t go anywhere. I have one more slip to make to complete this puzzle. And...” Random stopped mid-sentence and cocked her head. “Seriously?”

Mason stood up. “Is there a problem?”

“Librus insists that I must take you with me on my next slip. It says that the puzzle cannot be completed, if I don’t.” Random looked at her companion. She reached out and grabbed Mason’s shoulder. A slip later and they were on Concourse B of a space station headed for a food court. “Do you require sustenance?”

Mason nodded his head. “I’m starving.”

Random cocked her head sideways. “You don’t look malnourished.”

“It’s an expression. I could use some food because I’m very hungry.”

Mason looked over the crowded tables at the various items of food they were having. He asked Random about some of the items that he didn’t recognize. He pointed at a bizarre mixture on one of the plates. Random shook her head. “Trust me. You really don’t want to know.” Mason selected a bowl of broth and noodles with vegetables. After he finished eating, she secured quarters for him.

Mason fell asleep soon after he laid upon the bed. Random sat in a chair listening to him breathe. There was something odd about the rhythm of it. She used the standby time to re-examine all the puzzle pieces. An anomalous event wiped out an entire civilization. Librus had little information about them and their obscure little world. It chose Random to assist in the recovery program Librus initiated. She was the first artifact Librus had recovered, stolen out of time moments before her impending death. In her own time, her people would never recover her damaged body; but she would live on as a hybrid Agent of Librus. And she would also be responsible for saving her species.

Random sighed as she came out of standby. Librus was holding something back. There was something odd about Mason besides his respiration rate. Random thought about where she was. It was a place that hadn’t existed prior to her removing Mason from the timeline. Earth had not built the lunar orbital station in the original timeline. Perhaps she had already succeeded in her primary mission of salvaging human civilization. But the question remained about where Mason fit in the puzzle.

Random opened a connection to Librus. “How had pulling Mason out of the timeline spared Homo sapiens from extinction?” Librus responded by sending her a data file. The information recovered from Mason’s laptop contained details about the defense grid set up to protect the Earth. If it had fallen into the wrong hands, the inhabitants of Earth would have been unable to defend themselves against the invading forces. It also included tactical information detailing a planned attack on the enemy home planet. Except, the attack plans were not real. Librus had created a packet of false information. She had interrupted his transmission of the data after he had transmitted the false attack plans and nothing else.

Mason’s role in the whole scheme was complete, but his sudden disappearance was enough to convince his people that the data was authentic. Despite the easy destruction of the Lunar Orbital Station, the information Mason relayed to the alien dreadnought convinced the attacking forces to retreat to defend their home planet. Librus had created a seemingly innocuous piece of code that gradually constructed the false invasion plans over time as the algorithm roamed freely on the internet. It eventually embedded itself in the defense network.

Mason awoke to the smell of coffee. Random was pouring a cup for herself. She smiled at him and offered to pour another cup for him. Mason shuffled over to the table and sat down. She sat his cup of coffee down on the table.

“What are you?” Mason took a sip and ignored the question. Random sat down opposite him, holding her cup in her hands and staring him down. “You are as human as I am, maybe less so. So, again, what are you?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Data Packet

Random placed her hand against her firestick. Something about the place made her uneasy as she pushed her way through the crowd. She paused briefly to survey for uniforms. Six private guards stood between her and her destination. Three uniformed law enforcement officers patrolled the crowd of shoppers in the bazaar. Six to four, she felt sorry for the private guards should they try to interfere.

The six guards didn’t challenge Random as she passed by them. Perhaps her species reputation had made its way to the inner core after all. Not that she was human anymore. That had all changed when the Librus ‘recovered’ her. A quick glance at her chronometer told her that she was on a tight schedule. She had one tenth of a day to complete the task and ninety percent of the it had elapsed already.

It was a long walk to the back of the corridor and there was no guarantee that the entity that she was looking for would be there. The alarms in her head kept going off one after another as she dismissed each one. Push came to shove, she could always timeslip. The request had been for a courier to pick up and deliver a packet. The Librus had sent her as back-up should the courier fail to pick up and deliver the packet. Simple task. Simple instructions. Except with Librus, nothing was simple.

The door at the end of the corridor slid open. Inside the dark room, a creature sat suspended in the middle of what one could only describe as a large spider web. The dead courier had become a wrapped package that was leaning against the opposite wall. Random touched her firestick setting it to standby before venturing past the threshold.

The door slid shut behind Random, sealing her in the unlit room. She smiled as she watched the creature maneuver in the darkness. She drew her firestick, ejected its blade, and began slicing away at the webbing. As the creature leapt into the air, Random charged forward. She raised her firestick and deposited a small explosive pellet in the creature’s undershell. Seconds before detonation, she and the package shifted to another place.

Random carefully sliced the silk open, peeling away the layers until she had reached the contents. She sighed and shook her head. The body within was partially liquified, but Librus had assigned her to deliver the small data module, not the courier. When she returned the body to the room a few seconds later, she found the remains of the creature splattered over the walls.

Four of the guards who Random saw posted outside the building were waiting for her in the corridor. She was surprised to discover that they were there to guard the packet. As long as it was in her possession, they would act as her guards. The six guards escorted her through the crowded bazaar to an awaiting ship. As she boarded the ship, she met the gaze of a familiar face.

Random smiled and took the empty seat beside him. “Mason! It good to see you. How long has it been?”

“Not long enough.” His response was barely audible. The six guards that followed her on board made him feel more ill at ease. Random lived up to her name. Events surrounding her seemed unordered as though someone had shaken up the hours in a day and let them fall willy-nilly. “Why are you here?”

“You’ll have to ask them.” Random nodded toward the guards. “Wasn’t my idea.”

“Are you capable of having ideas?”

Random let that slide. After all, she did yank him out of his natural timeline just to save an entire planet. That wasn’t her idea either. Lately, she hadn’t had a lot of ideas that were hers alone. Everything had come from Librus. Do this, go there. Even the packet that she was carrying was not something that she had chosen to do. She sighed.

“What was that all about?”

“What was what all about?”

“You sighed. Why did you sigh?”

Random sighed again, louder than before. “Honestly, do you want to know when the last time was that I had an idea of my own? Do you seriously care?”

“I asked, didn’t I?”

“The last time I had an idea was the day that I died. It was the day Librus started the Recovery Program. It’s the reason that you existed in that timeline that I stole you from. I DIED! YOU didn’t!”

Mason suddenly felt ashamed that he had been so angry about having his life snatched away from him. “What was it like?”

“What was what like? Dying? Or being alive again?”

“Both.”

“Painful.” They traveled the rest of the way in silence.

Upon arrival at the way station, the six guards escorted Random off the transport. Mason followed. The pass that Random had given him granted him free passage anywhere. And at the moment, he was worried about her. He need not have been worried. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. Mason was no slacker himself when it came to knock down, drag out, close quarter combat. He was also about to get himself killed.

Mason followed Random onto a large luxury liner, the SS Victoria Regina. The four guards escorted Random to a deluxe cabin on the cruise ship where she met with her client, or rather the original courier’s client.

“You don’t look like Yago Tarsh.” The fat old man behind the desk was Sarko Bragg. Random watched as his waddle waggled long after he had stopped talking.

“Yago is no longer with us. I’m his replacement.” Random pulled a small transparent envelop from her jacket pocket.

“It must have been some difficulty for Tarsh to hand off his packet.” Bragg shifted his weight causing his chair to creak.

“He didn’t exactly hand it off. I took it from what remained of him. My employer insisted that the packet be delivered.”

“How will I know that the packet is genuine?”

“There is some of Yago Tarsh attached to it.” Random held out the small transparent envelope with the goo-covered module inside. Bragg took the envelope from her and handed it to a nearby aide. “Someone didn’t want you to get the information on that module. And your guards weren’t very effective at protecting it.”

“They protected you.” Bragg huffed and looked at his aide while the man scanned the contents of the envelope.

“They protected Yago’s DNA. I didn’t need their protection.” Bragg waited for confirmation. His aide nodded and dumped the module onto a small cloth to clean off the organic matter.

“So, I suppose I pay you now the Tarsh is kaputsky.”

“I don’t work for you. My employer wanted you to have that data. My job was to guarantee its delivery. I’m done here.” Random turned to walk away.

“Who’s your boss? I can send him a thank you or something.” Random knew better than to stop and talk. She continued her walk to the office door. She could hear him fumbling with a weapon as her hand reached for the door handle. She pulled it open as he steadied his aim. She walked through seconds before he fired.

Random emerged through the open portal back at the waystation, slipping back in time to intercept Mason seconds after she boarded the luxury liner. She smiled at Mason. “You don’t want to follow me onto that boat. Where were you headed before you detoured to shadow me?”

“I... Well... I wasn’t really headed anywhere.”

“No time to make up your mind.” Random grabbed Mason’s arm. “We have to leave now.” She pulled him down a corridor toward a transport back to Earth. “Go home. Make the rest of your vacation a staycation.”

“How?” Mason wrested free of her grip. “I saw you board that luxury liner with those guards. How did you manage to slip away?”

“I didn’t. But I didn’t see a point in you being involved in something that has nothing to do with you. Now go home.” She paused and sighed, “Please?”

Mason grabbed Random’s wrist and dragged her into a small coffee bar. “Sit, have coffee with me, answer a few questions, then maybe... just maybe, I’ll go home. Except Earth isn’t my home and you already know that.”

Random looked at Mason’s hand and thought about breaking it. It hardly seemed worth the trouble after saving his life – twice. “Fine.” Before Mason could release her hand, Random slipped them both off the waystation into a private club. She smiled as the host lead them to a private table.

Yago Tarsh smiled at Random. “Did the packet arrive on time?” The creature sitting in the overstuffed chair was tapping at the air as he spoke.

“Sarko Bragg is taking possession of it as we speak. Too bad you lost another clone.” Random had rather enjoyed a look inside Yago’s gruff exterior, but she kept a sober face.

“He’s going to try to kill you.” Yago’s warning was belated, but it made Random smile to think he cared even a little for her well-being.

“All he manages is a hole in his office door.”

Yago smiled and swept away whatever had been distracting him. He looked at Random, then pointed at Mason. “Who’s your friend?”

“Mason? He’s one of yours. Well, not yours specifically.”

“He looks human.”

“Well, he was a spy in his former life.”

“What is he now?”

“A bit of a vagabond. He was nearly deceased again.”

Mason had been wandering about the room, ignoring most of the conversation up to that point. “What do you mean by ‘again’?

“You followed me on board that liner and died when Bragg blew a hole in his door, or would have if I hadn’t intervened.”

Yago smiled. “Lucky for you, your girlfriend is a time traveler.”

“She’s not my girlfriend. She’s not even a friend.”

Random pouted, then broke out laughing.

“How soon before Bragg uses the module?”

“He wants that data badly. Since someone killed you to keep him from having it, I’d say about now.”

“Was it your employer? Just so’s I know where I stand with Librus.”

“No, it was someone who didn’t know what was on the module and believed that it would help Bragg become more powerful. Librus already had a copy of the data inside the module. I was backup in case something went sideways.”

“But why? What’s Librus get from this?”

“Bragg would have started a war. Eliminating him prevents that war.”

“And Librus ain’t worried about me?”

“You’re still breathing, aren’t you?”

Transfer Protocol

It had taken Librus some time to gather the data needed to identify Mason Dixon. Infiltrating the various secure data banks of the Inner Systems had taken some careful planning to prevent detection. Both predicting and influencing the galactic future would be easier with the enlarged database. But Librus would need another agent and it wanted Mason.

Random’s next assignment was to convince Mason to give himself over to Librus. For Random, that was no easy task. Mason didn’t like her and she didn’t like that Mason had a choice. In truth, she resented it. Her death had been excruciating and despite the physical repairs to her damaged body, she relived that death all too frequently.

It didn’t help matters much that Mason also couldn’t stand her. He made it quite clear every time that they were together. She had tried to ignore his dislike for her, but it stung. And Librus was keeping things from her again – more puzzle pieces. It knew who she had been before she died. Random was starting to remember, but like Librus she wasn’t telling.

The images came to Random during down time. Sometimes they were blurry with muted sounds. Other times, they were crisp and clear images accompanied by clearly audible sound. She schemed to grant herself more downtime. Rather than slip to Mason’s current location, she took a transport and settled in to the comfortable berth. She closed her eyes to let her mind process all the new information that Librus had downloaded into her. It was also a chance to inventory those memory fragments that she had found.

As she drifted into downtime, Random replayed those memories. The confusion of people rushing around her, voices shouting above the rumble as the building began to collapse around them. A sudden quake had broken the building supports and the structure began to drop into a massive sinkhole. She remembered the debris, the massive chunks of concrete and steel that fell on top of her as the building peeled away from the walkway.

It was an unpleasant choking death as her lungs filled with dust and her bones cracked. As sudden as the impact was, the death itself was slow and painful. She reached out again for the memory trying to focus on who she had been. There was a name on a tag handing around her neck. The employee identification card had her picture on it and her name, but it was swaying and any time she saw it clearly it was upside down.

Random snapped out of her reverie just as a large insect tapped her forehead. “Excuse me,” it clicked out, “but I could swear that we met before.” Random squinted at the bug, then laughed. “Don’t you work for Librus? Go by the name of Random if I remember correctly. Anyway, I need your help, if you are.” Random rolled her eyes, smiled wanly, and nodded. “Oh, good.” The bug took up a sitting position on Random’s chest and began to enumerate the details of its predicament. Random only half listened to what led up to its troubles. “Well?” It waited for a response from Random, tapping one of its appendages in anticipation.

“Fine, I’ll talk to Tarsh. But I’m not making any promises.”

Fortunately for Random, both Mason and Tarsh were currently residing on the waystation between Earth and Alpha Pavonis. Yago and Mason had become fast friends, much to her discomfort. By now, she was certain that Yago Tarsh knew more about who Mason Dixon had been than she would ever know. It was also true that Tarsh owed her a favor for her covering his last special delivery.

Dealing with Tarsh would be easy. Convincing Mason to switch his loyalty from Alpha Pavonis to Librus was going to be difficult, if not impossible. Despite Librus’ confidence in her ability to complete the task, Random didn’t have a clue where to begin. And she was still dealing with her own identity issues.

The Pavonin attack on Earth had led to a cascade failure of the ecosystem that led to the extinction of life on the planet. It was entirely contrary to both human and Pavonin interests. Random had been instrumental in deleting that unfortunate timeline and creating the current one. Mason had played a part in that as well, though unwittingly. Random sorted through her options for opening a dialogue with Mason.

“Excuse me. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you standing there,” wasn’t one of them. Random had quite literally run into Mason. She extended her hand to help the Pavo off the floor. He gave her a look of disgust before grasping her hand.

“I can’t seem to avoid running into you, can I?” There was a sneer to his question.

“Actually, I ran into you. But I was on my way to see you anyway. Can we talk? Somewhere private, if at all possible.”

“We have nothing to talk about.”

“Librus begs to differ. It sent me to find you.”

“Well, you’ve found me. Now, get lost!”

“I can’t do that, Quell Darbo. Librus has requested that I speak to you about the prospect of future employment as an extension of Librus. I cannot leave until we have had that conversation.”

“Quell Darbo no longer exists. You have the wrong man.”

Random smiled. “Good. I was afraid that you were going to pursue your old life and resurrect yourself. But now that you have established that you wish to continue as Mason Dixon, we can proceed with the negotiation.”

“Whatever the offer is, the answer is no. I have no interest in working with you.”

“You would not be working with me. Librus wishes to employ you as an independent agent. It would require some further modification of your hardware, but as you have already been substantially modified...”

“Whoa! What kind of modification?”

“You would receive augmentation that would allow you to slip through time and space to facilitate your tasks. There would also be a need for you to maintain near constant communication with Librus. I can demonstrate those modifications for you if it would further clarify the issue.”

Mason stared, mouth agape, in disbelief. He had not thought about his past or his future until Random extended the offer. Knowing that he would have died on that station had caused him to live in the moment. Now Librus offered a future, but it involved more changes that would take him farther away from who he had once been. “Can I think about this?”

“Although the request is urgent, it is by no means immediate.” Had it been immediate, Librus would have sent Random directly to him and not allowed her to take her time. During her moment of contemplation, a shockwave hit the waystation and Random found herself in the midst of a panic attack. The shaking of the planet’s crust beneath the waystation shook loose the last fragments of her memory of the day she died. “My name is Random.”

For a brief moment, a look of pure disgust occupied Mason’s face. He had no intention of getting to know the human better. They were a disgusting species by Pavonin standards. And yet, he had allowed himself to become one of them, but only for the express purpose of wiping them out. The only reason that he remained human was a desire to avoid execution as a traitor to his race.

Calm soon returned to Random as the shaking ebbed. “Please let me know if you have any questions for Librus regarding the nature of your employment as well as the intended modifications to your being.” With that announcement, she turned and walked away. Mason stared at Random as she walked down the hallway. She was busy having a conversation with herself or perhaps she was talking to Librus. Either way, she was no longer talking to him.

Random was busy processing her newfound memories. The building where she lived had collapsed on top of her after a mild quake caused the sinkhole beneath the building to open up. Random was alone, left to her own devices while her family was out for the day. She had just woken from a midday snooze when the shaking started. There were some minor injuries among the other tenants of the building, but Random was the only fatality.

Her family had named her Random when they adopted her. She wondered if they had replaced her. They probably thought that she had run away. She didn’t know enough about them to track them down. All she remembered was the little girl named Hannah and even that memory was faint and fading away.

Back with Librus, Random examined the new body that had been prepared for Mason. It was a much more durable body, shorter and wider than the one he currently occupied and entirely legal. Librus didn’t want one of its agents running around in a hijacked body. She captured a digital image of the dormant host. It was one more enticement she had to offer him if he was still reticent.

When Random returned to ask Mason for his assent, his reply surprised her. After she showed him the new husk that he would be inhabiting, he stated that his yes was conditional. She took him to Librus.

“I’m willing to accept your offer, but there are conditions. I wish to keep this appearance which you may upgrade as you see fit and I wish to be known only as Quell.”

“This is acceptable.” Librus intoned in its oddly mechanical voice.

Random led Mason to the transfer room and instructed him to lie upon the slanted table. He sank into the soft padding while a web of nanobots coated his scalp. Librus transformed the new body to look like his current body. There would be no trace of his original existence left after the transfer.

Quell woke up to Random’s smiling face. “Welcome to Librus. My name is Random. Can you tell me your name?”

Quell furrowed his brow. “I remember who you are. My name is Quell.” Uncertain of what to do next, he extended his hand. Random took it and helped him to stand. He looked over at the empty table. “What happened to my old body?”

“We do not discuss such things during the adjustment period. You must first discover your new capabilities. Your new body possesses enhanced senses beyond what is normal for a human or a Pavo. You have an enhanced capacity for data storage, as well as enhanced physical speed and strength. In addition to a direct connection to Librus, you can now slip through time and space with certain limitations.”

“What limitations?”

“You can slip through space within the same temporal point or time within the same spatial point, but you cannot slip through both.” Random placed her hand on Quell’s shoulder and slipped them both back to the waystation, just in time to experience a second quake. Fortunately, it was milder than the first, most likely an aftershock. “Librus gave me another assignment. You can stay here and explore your extended senses. I will come back for you later.”

“No. Take me with you.” Quell surprised them both with his demand. He didn’t want to be on his own just yet. Random sighed, grabbed his shoulder and slipped both of them off the waystation.

Trojan Keylogger

Random and Quell appeared among the ruins of an ancient city. Nature had reclaimed much of the place, but up a set of steps stood an old bronze portal. The doors stood against the vines that had attached themselves to it. She looked around at the ruins, then rechecked her coordinates. She was where Librus had instructed her to be.

Quell walked up the steps and pushed against the doors. They didn’t budge. Random joined him at the top of the stairs and placed her ear against the door. She gave the door a sharp knock and then listened to the echo from within the chamber. Placing her hand on Quell’s shoulder, Random slipped them both inside the building.

The room they were in smelled of decay and neglect. A small sliver of light cut through the pitch black illuminating a single title on the shelves in front of them. Random pulled the aging manuscript from the shelf and carefully opened the heavy paperboard cover. She did not recognize the script, but Quell did.

“You’re holding it wrong.” He turned the book making the spine face away from her. He slowly ran his hand down the text, reading it to her. She recognized the story from her past life. The little girl named Hannah had read it to her, showing her the pictures that illustrated the story. Quell’s book had no pictures.

“It’s a translation. I know the story, although sometimes it gets all jumbled up with the other story.”

“What other story?”

“Through the Looking Glass. Too many queens and a white rabbit to keep track of. But it always made the little girl giggle.”

“You’ve lost me. What little girl? Alice?”

“Never mind. It’s not important. Librus says that there are less obsolete storage media here that will allow access to the data on the books in this musty old place. We must find the room that it is stored in.”

“But it’s pitch-black in here.”

“Perhaps we need to slip back to a time when it isn’t.” Random smiled and placed her hand on Quell’s shoulder. A few seconds later they were in a well-lit library, devoid of must and dust. Quell placed the book back on the shelf against a newer copy and followed Random as she headed toward the back of the building.

At the bottom of a stairwell, Random slipped through a locked door. Quell stared as she started down a long hallway from the small window in the door. He sighed about remaining behind, until it dawned on him that he could slip through to the other side. Quell appeared a few steps ahead of Random seconds before she caught up and slipped them both through a door into a small computer lab. “All of the library has been digitized. We need to make copies of the data before it is destroyed.”

“How exactly are we going to do that?”

“We scan the magnetic storage, provided that there is magnetic storage to scan. But we can’t start until we find a way to complete the task without destroying the data.”

“Perhaps if we go back to when the data was created, we could copy it then.”

Random pulled a thin transparent sheet from the file. “This storage method allows thousands of pages to be stored on a single sheet. But it does not allow for easy access. Perhaps we have gone too far back.” Random removed four small milky orbs from her pocket and threw them at the four upper corners of the room. The orbs quickly became transparent. “Librus will be able to record all activity going forward. When we return to our origin point, we should be able to retrieve the collectors.”

Error Message

The broad strip of red velvet dangled above Random’s head. Each time she would reach for it, the ribbon would capriciously fly into the air. Random started to jump nearly catching hold of it at times. Eventually, she took to hiding beneath the decking waiting for the ribbon to touch the ground before pouncing on it and running off with it, tripping and rolling in the grass as she ran toward the bushes.

The dream had become something of a recurring nightmare for Random. It was beginning to disturb her waking consciousness. Fortunately, Librus had a new assignment for her. All interface screens to Librus flashed with the same error message – DATA MISMATCH DETECTED. Librus sent her back to the ancient library to install a second set of data collectors to determine the source of the anomaly. Random deployed the collectors just after the opening ceremony and returned to recover them moments before the destruction of the old library.

Librus had just finished isolating the source of the error when Quell arrived. The moment when Quell shelved a book next to its earlier version looped on the monitors. Acknowledging his error, he returned to the library to repair the damage. Fifteen minutes later, he returned with the errant manuscript in his hand. The data error message disappeared and Librus continued its task of ranking and sorting the various bits of gathered knowledge. The task had become even bigger since the return of the second set of collectors. Random and Quell left Librus to its machinations.